The upcoming medieval narrative RPG Sovereign Tower has benefited from the success and design of the superhero management game Dispatch, according to its developers. Wild Wits Games found that Dispatch's release provided a valuable benchmark and source of inspiration for their own project.
Sovereign Tower, which recently released a Steam demo, tasks players with managing a medieval realm with the help of loyal knights. These knights can be assigned quests, improved through experience, and granted trait boosts using various items. While the medieval fantasy setting differs significantly from Dispatch's superhero theme, the core gameplay loop shares similarities.
Antoine Tabouret-Loudeac, creative and art director at Wild Wits Games, explained that observing Dispatch allowed them to refine Sovereign Tower's mechanics. "There were a few mechanics that we wish we had, and obviously we couldn't add any more," he stated. "Then there were some of the mechanics that we were hesitating on that we had planned, and when we saw it done on Dispatch, we're like, we need to have it, we cannot cut this mechanic because it's working too well." This insight was crucial for identifying effective gameplay elements.
Specifically, the development team reconsidered their approach to the level-up system and character traits after seeing Dispatch's implementation. Initially, Sovereign Tower featured extensive lists of character traits, but the team eventually streamlined them. "It was much easier to remember what your character has and to identify what each of these tags does," Tabouret-Loudeac noted, referencing the influence of Dispatch in simplifying this aspect.
Beyond specific mechanics, Dispatch's popularity also validated the market for this style of narrative management game. Tabouret-Loudeac recalled conceptualizing Sovereign Tower before any similar titles were prominent, only to later see Dispatch emerge. "Before [Dispatch], when I made the concept for the game, there was nothing like it at all," he said. "Then a few months after I started working on the on the gameplay side of things, I saw the first trailer for Dispatch, and I sent it to Courto (Laly, co-founder and director of Wild Wits Games studio), and I told him, 'look, this might be a game that's similar to us, maybe we should take inspiration from it', and Courto told me 'this doesn't have anything to do with what we're doing', and then it really did."
The existence of Dispatch also simplifies marketing for Sovereign Tower, making it easier for potential players to grasp the game's concept.
Furthermore, the timing of Sovereign Tower's release, coming after Dispatch has established an audience, is seen as advantageous. This separation in release dates avoids direct competition and allows fans of the genre to engage with both titles. "It's very easy for people to understand the concept of the game now that Dispatch exists," Tabouret-Loudeac added. The developer expressed satisfaction with Dispatch's success, stating, "We're happy that Dispatch exists," and hopes that the developers of Dispatch will also experience Sovereign Tower.
